PGA Tour has qualifying event where influencers and YouTubers get chance to earn

“The Q at Myrtle Beach” is a 16-man qualifying event on March 4 where eight golf content creators are among those looking to earn a spot at the PGA Tour’s inaugural Myrtle Beach Classic; Watch the PGA Tour throughout the season live on Sky Sports

The worlds of golf and social media regularly mix, but could we see an influencer get the chance to tee it up in a PGA Tour event this season?

The PGA Tour’s inaugural Myrtle Beach Classic takes place at the Dunes Golf and Beach Club in South Carolina from May 9-12, live on Sky Sports, with the tournament featuring one-of-a-kind qualifying event to fill one to the spots in the field.

Organisers have launched “The Q at Myrtle Beach”, an 18-hole competition on Monday March 4, with the event seeing eight of the sport’s most prominent golf content creators and eight professionals compete for one PGA Tour exemption.

All professional and amateur competitors meet PGA Tour regulations for sponsor exemptions, which require a USGA handicap of 0.0 or better, with all of them eligible to tee it up on the PGA Tour should they qualify.

The influencer-half of the field includes George Bryan of Bryan Bros Golf, Luke Kwon of Good Good Golf and former Good Good members Micah Morris and Grant Horvat, whose have huge presences on YouTube and TikTok respectively.

Nick Stubbe, better known as Fat Perez from the YouTube profile Bob Does Sports, appears, as does UK-based golf influencer Peter Finch and journalist Dan Rapaport.

A 90-minute video about the event will be released on Play Golf Myrtle Beach’s YouTube page on April 23, with creators then posting content on their respective channels documenting their experiences.

A good move or a marketing gimmick?

The decision to have such a limited qualifying event divided opinion on social media, although bunkered.co.uk editor Michael McEwan told the Sky Sports Golf podcast why he supports the PGA Tour’s move.

“It’s an absolutely brilliant idea,” McEwan said. “They’re not taking a spot away from anybody. There’s a certain number of places in the field and there’s always only a certain number of players who get in through their rankings or whatever.

“There’s usually a couple of spaces put aside for tournament invites. It’s the same principle as the Ryder Cup – if you don’t get one of the automatic spaces, you can’t very well complain when you don’t get one of the wildcards.

“There’s a way to get in, and that’s by playing consistently good…